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Winter Preparation

Winter is the weather when cool breezes and low temperatures surround us. It is the time of the year when fireplaces and bon-fires become alive. The blazing fire and crackling flickers allures one towards itself. This all fun and luxury of warmth is all thanks to the pieces and logs of woods which are the basic raw material.

Find the Wood

Searching, chopping and bringing wood to its destination is a tedious task; which becomes more difficult in winters. As in winters the roads and paths are not friendly for such a journey and searching and cutting even becomes difficult due to the cold weather. Therefore one should act proactively and depending on the weather and ones need stack ample amount of wood beforehand.

Chopping

The first step is to find the right type of fire wood. Once found the next step is chopping. For piling purpose wood pieces should be cut in triangle shape. In this way the pieces can be piled on top of each other with ease taking less space. It also reduces the chances of stacks rolling off, creating a mess and injuring someone. An ideal length of wood logs should be between twelve to twenty inches long. Use a wheelbarrow to bring it to tour place.

While chopping; remember to chop some small pieces which shall be required to start a fire. These pieces can be bundled in a corner and used to blaze up the fire every time.

Stacking

In order to increase the life of wood and safe it from natural decay it is preferable to stack it in racks little higher than the ground level. This is because direct contact with the ground may result in the wood getting rotted; chances of growth of algae, fungi and other such mosses increases. Direct contact with ground also increases the chances of the log becoming home to insects and animals; which will make them less efficient for fire purpose. Therefore try to stack them a little higher than ground.

The stacked piles need support on both the end to remain intact for the whole for the purpose any heavy thing can be placed on each end. Tailor made steel barricades and stoppers are available in the market for this purpose.

Storage

Completely shutting off from natural elements like sun and air will also decrease the woods life. Ensure that the wood receive air and sun. The best practice is that the piles are stacked in the manner where sunlight reaches through the sides and air from the front. This will help in keeping the wood dry for the coming season.

While stacking the wood makes it convenient for use in the coming season, it is dangerous in case a fire erupts as wood catches the fire easily and the whole building can blaze up. Therefore, if possible try to store the wood away from the main building to avoid any big accident. Also take extreme care near the stack area and try to regularly check on the store.

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How to properly winterize your lawn? What to do and what not to do? What are the right steps to take in order to prepare your grass for winter? Basically, in order to prepare your turf for winter, you need to keep it in the best shape possible at all times. This process is known as winterizing the lawn, and it is actually quite simple. It also doesn’t require a lot of money or time.

The Type of Your Grass Matters

Knowing what type of grass you have is very important when it comes to winterizing your lawn. Cool-season turf usually contains either the perennial ryegrass or the Kentucky bluegrass. Cool-season grasses usually grow the strongest in fall. If you are one of those people who fertilize this type of grass only one time each year, then it is recommended to do it in fall.

The winterize fertilizer is usually available in fall, and you can use it to fertilize your lawn. In most regions, it is recommended to apply it either in October or November. Check with your local garden center to see which would be the best time to apply it in your area.

Why Is Fall Fertilizing So Effective?

During fall, plants respond to external factors like temperature and daylength changes, and they start preparing for the winter season. And that is why fall fertilizing is so effective. Plant roots remain somewhat active even when the cold weather strikes and the temperature starts going down. Grass is one of those plants.

Warm-Season Lawns Need to Be Treated Differently

When it comes to fertilizing, it is one of the most important things to do for cool-season grass. But how to properly treat warm-season lawns? Treating these lawns slightly differs from treating cool-season lawns.

Don’t fertilize these grasses in areas where late fall brings cold weather after the first day of September. If you, however, do so, there is a risk of new growth that can be damaged by freezing temperatures. And what this type of damage does is make the roots more vulnerable to damage and stress.

Mild Winter Areas

In areas where winter is not so cold, warm-season grasses stay green throughout the whole winter season. It would be best to fertilize your lawn in early autumn if you live in one of these areas.

Don’t fertilize your lawn without thinking. You need to use your brain to decide when to fertilize your lawn based on what type of grass you have. However, if you are not sure about any of this, taking a soil test would be the safest option for you.

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Fall Cleaning is Here- Time to move inside 🙁

Okay so we love outside work and DIY projects in and around the yard. But, it’s that time of year when you need think about the inside of the home. Yes, fall is here, and Winter is rapidly approaching. We know Spring cleaning is a popular to-do but what about fall cleaning?

As we prepare for the rain, snow, ice and whatever else old father winter in has store this year make sure your dwelling is comfortable. This goes for routine maintenance items such as changing the air filter in your furnace to closing the vents in your foundation. Also, chores like cleaning the fireplace and chimney. Getting the carpets cleaned to eliminate all the pollen form the summer before.

Bug Barrier

We like to spray spider barrier around our property every fall and late spring early summer. We started doing this over the last couple years and can’t recommend it enough. Typically, we see a ton of spiders come inside when the temperatures drop. Since we’ve started using a barrier product we haven’t seen a single creepy crawler inside.

Windows

Another thing my wife absolutely must do is clean the windows inside and out. A college friend of hers runs a Boise window cleaning company and let her in a little winter trick great for the DIY’s. Cleaning the windows is a chore especially if they are on an upper floor, so don’t risk your safety and hire a professional window cleaner if needed. They can also do this and will likely have a similar product.
After you get your windows as clean as you want, which my wife works for hours on them until they sparkle. Once they are clean apply some rainX product to the outside windows, this will help them repel the weather throughout the winter. It’s a great little trick, the windows might still attract a little dust or dirt but when the rain hits it tends to come right off and the rain dries without streaks.

Stove/ Oven

Another thing that’s on our Fall cleaning list is the stove and oven. I know it’s a probably one of my most disliked chores, but it has to happen. Typically, during the summer, we BBQ 75 percent of our meals. But in the winter, we just can’t. So, we make sure our oven and stove are clean and ready for the abuse over the winter.

Garage

I personally must make sure my garage is in order and there is room to work out and do projects. Throughout the summer we tend to fill our garage with rafts, bikes, and miscellaneous sporting and outdoor gear. Its time most or all of that gets packed up and put away. With winter around the corner, my workouts move indoors, and this is “my” number one, must do.

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Your lawn can be an object of pride or a neighborhood eye sore. With a few helpful tips we hope you find your lawn closer to the object of pride.

You can make your yard wonderful with a little attention and the proper guidance.

1. Utilize regular garden manure.

Why utilize regular manure rather than engineered grass compost? Since they are better for your lawn, nature, and demonstrated to work superior to the composites! A current review by Austin’s Waters Protection and Development Assessment Department, Texas An and M’s coordinated effort demonstrates that natural and regular lawn composts really create greener yards than engineered materials. Furthermore, normal manures are more beneficial for your home and condition! There are numerous normal garden manures accessible

2. Aerate your lawn.

If your lawn is like many of the others it takes a beating and needs a little helping hand. One of the best things you can do for your yard once or twice a year is to aerate the soil. This will loosen it up and allow for better root growth and nutrient absorption.

Allowing for a healthy green lawn year-round.

3. Weed control

Weed control won’t hurt your lawn, yet specific herbicides don’t have the foggiest idea about the contrast amongst weeds and essential plants, perennials or developing patio plants. Ensure you review the product before you apply it to your various plants and vegetation. The kind of weed and location you are managing will decide how and when to utilize it.

Lawn care and weed control benefits

Like any other life form, the lawn needs sustenance and care to develop properly.

Most soil does not have enough nutrients for our ideal lawn. Make sure and use the proper fertilizer for your local region. This helps supplement the natural nutrients. Ultimately, enhancing the development of new grass and stronger roots throughout your yard.

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Here at We Can Wood & Lawn, we are all about DIY projects around the house to save you time and money. I hope through our previous posts on Lawn Care you were able to grab some usefull tips and prepare you lawn for the Winter months.

As we approach the cold season we shift our focus from outside the home to inside. If your like us the Thanksgiving was a blessing and know we focus on the best holiday of the year, Christmas. Not for what we may receive but for what we are able to give. Even if the giving is as simple as a warm smile and a Merry Christmas to a complete stranger.

Even if you cant afford to buy extravagant gifts for your friends and family, the true gift of Christmas is the selfless acts we see everywhere. Today I saw my neighbor helping another elderly couple in the neighborhood hang their Christmas lights, of course I lent a hand. Honestly it probably made me feel better than my neighbors whom I was helping.

Just as each of us can make a positive impact in our neighborhoods, we see a number of businesses who are also spreading the Christmas cheer. There was a Bank in town who rents a horse and carriage and offers free rides through downtown. We took part in this last night and surprisingly the bank didn’t even pitch their products after the ride was over. In fact I asked them why they were letting this golden opportunity slip by. They simply replied that’s not what Christmas is about and we just want to spread the joy of the season. Needless to say that was a great response and I’m actually more open to checking their products out than had they pitched me yesterday.

Another excellent example comes from a friend of mine who has been an accountant for many years always offers ten people free tax filling services in the spirit of Christmas. Check them out at www.DeMossAccounting.com. They specialize in business accounting but are generous enough to offer these personal services for the folks who desperately need their help.

This time of year can be extremely stressful for folks who may not have the money to buy their kids all they toys and gifts they wish they could. In fact they might not be able to buy anything, besides the basics. With tax season right around the corner many people have to decide between hiring an accountant to properly do their taxes for the best outcome possible, or trying to do it themselves and hoping they captured all the deductions possible.

Don’t get us wrong we are all about DIY projects. However when it comes to taxes and the IRS we recommend seeking a professional accountant. They are always going to know more than you and are your best protection form the IRS.

We hope you find a number of ways to provide your help this year to those around you. Rather your a window cleaner, towing company, accountant or a delivery driver there is always a way to help and we hope you spread the christmas cheer just as the above examples have been able to for so many.

Stay tuned for our DIY guide to winterizing your house coming soon.

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Lawn care is an easy enough thing to accomplish on your own with the right know how, a little time and the proper equipment. The term “Lawn Care” can encompass a number of things such as proper lawn mowing, lawn fertilization, soil maintenance and pest control. Below we will cover these topics in brief summaries but encourage you to take these tips and build upon them through further searching local resources, which might apply more directly.

Lawn Mowing:

Seems easy enough right? Well, yeah I suppose but there are a few things you can do help the overall appearance and health of your lawn. We found some great tips on a local lawn care site here in Boise, ID www.boiselawnexperts.com just through a quick google search on lawn mowing blogs. Likely you will see one in your town as well.

First make sure you are always using a sharp mower blade. This ensures you are cutting the grass and not tearing it. Also helping your mower pick the clippings up or mulch them depending. A nice sharp blade will cut the grass blade multiple times before disposing of it. With a dull blade the grass tends to get cut only a fraction of what it would otherwise, causing clogging and clumps in the grass.

The length of your cut should vary depending on the time of year. A little shorter in the summer and longer in the winter. We almost always see DIY’ers cut their grass too short effecting its health or even leaving bald spots, from scrapping. During the summer you should cut it about 2 ½ to 3 ¼ inches. Sounds a little long but ultimately makes for a nice lush lawn. Then inn winter leave it a little longer about an inch, Likely your lawn will stop growing around November, when it does you want it to be about this length 3 ½ to 4 inches. This will help protect the roots from deep freeze allowing it to return much healthier in the spring.

Fertilization:

The Fall and Spring are ideal times to fertilize your lawn. During the summer you should fertilize if needed as a boost to your lawns health. During the Fall fertilization will help feed your lawn throughout the Winter. While a good fertilization in the Spring gives it that wakeup call and nutrients needed to begin its growth season.

The type of fertilizer you use is somewhat dependent on the region you live and the soil your lawn is planted in. A number of places will test your soil and recommend the proper fertilizer to optimize the nutrients in the soil. This is one of those local research items you should conduct. I do recommend having your soil tested and optimized. At the least stop by your local home improvement stores and talk with a pro form the area. They can likely recommend the typical product needed.

Soil Maintenance:

This was talked about a little above, however outside of fertilization there are other thing to consider in your soils health. Within our lawns we have the grass, thatch, roots, and soils. When we talk about soil maintenance we really want to encompass all the above. The thatch is a layer of dead roots just below the grass and above the soil. Thatch is good and helps your grass survive. However, too much or too thick of thatch can hinder your grasses health and growth. The roots need room to grow and expand while the soil has to be compact enough to hold water and vegetation and not so compact the roots cannot grow.

The best thing besides fertilization you can do to promote healthy soil is to aerate your yard. We discussed this a bit last post and we do recommend at least once a year to aerate. This helps break up the thatch and compact soil allowing your grass roots to expand and the soil to decompress. With the soil less dense it can hold ore water and nutrients to benefit the grass and feed the roots.

I hope some of these tips where helpful and give you a good idea on how to promote a healthy lawn. As we mentioned to start, a number of factors play into a healthy lawn some of which are regional. We recommend doing a bit of research on local lawn care sites to see what they recommend in your area but these are the basics.

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The fall is a great time to take a few extra minutes and tend to your lawn and landscape. The summer has likely been rough on the vegetation with the hot temperatures and sparse rain fall. Hopefully you we’re able to keep you grass alive and the trees and bushes healthy. If not this is a great time to show them a little extra attention helping their roots regain health and prepare for the winter months ahead.

This post will cover some easy tasks you should be doing to your lawn this fall to ensure a healthy lawn when spring arrives.

Aeration:

Through the summer our yards take a beating, one of the best things you can do this time of year is to Aerate your lawn. There are a few different ways to handle this and depending on your yard’s condition something as simple as aeration cleats may work just fine.

Typically, we want to use a core aerator which pulls plugs from the soil. The removal of these plugs allows for the ground to decompress and the thinning of the thatch. A layer of thatch is a good thing in a healthy lawn but left un managed it grow too thick to allow the proper nutrients into the roots.

You can easily rent an Aerator at your local home improvement store for less than $100 a day. Or, if your lawn is fairly young and isn’t too compact a pair of aerator shoes or cleats might work just fine. As you start to care for your lawn walking around with spiked shoes every so often will really help promote a healthy lawn all year.

Over Seeding:

Once you have the lawn aerated and the soil a bit looser, this is a great time to spread some fresh grass seed, even if you have a healthy lush lawn. The Fall is a prime time for vegetation such as grass to take root. There tends to be more water and milder weather, allowing the seeds to thrive. As long as you over seed at least 4 to 6 weeks before the first freeze your new grass should do just fine over winter.

Remember to water your new seed often, at least two times a day. The soil should stay moist throughout the day as to not kill the seedling. Depending on your geography, watering may not be a big deal this time of year. Either way keep it watered with minimal traction.

We recommend using the same type of grass your lawn is currently planted with. If you don’t know what that is there are some great resources on-line to help you identify your lawn. It’s likely one of the popular regional grasses, but you should be able to find matching seed at the local home improvement store. Depending on the type of seed and how large your lawn is your looking at around $50 .00 to cover an average lawn.

Trimming Shrubs and Trees:

After a long summer, the shrubs are probably looking a little scraggly with branches growing in various directions. The trees are likely starting to turn color and drop their first leaves of the season. Gotta love this time of year!

It also makes a perfect time to trim everything down. This can help not only with appearance and fallen debris but the health of your vegetation as well. When you trim your trees try to cut off the dead branches and the branches growing in a direction other than you want. Such as into or over your house or fence. When you cut the branches try to cut where the branch meets a larger part of the tree or a joint. This will help the try recover better and leave a nice clean look

Leaf Clean Up:

As the leaf start to fall it’s important to keep them from building up on your lawn. When leaves build up on your grass they can starve the lawn of vital sun and water. Ultimately killing your grass and leaving a mess in your lawn over winter. There are a number of ways to get rid of the leaves, including your recycling or garbage. However, we recommend mulching the leaves and cutting the branches up small enough to dispose of easily.

Having a mulch area of your lawn can help not only with the leaves in the fall but the grass throughout the year. Mulch is a great food for vegetables or flower bed and is well worth the investment. Some mulch the grass directly into their lawn, with the proper mower this is an easy thing to do. But, if your mower is a standard residential model, it will likely just leave clumps of grass behind, doing more harm than good. We recommend a 4×4 area with three walls about 4 feet high. As you mow the lawn or pick up leaves just pile them in, Nature takes it course and before you know it you have Super Food for your vegetation.

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Thanks for checking out our new site dedicated to Do It yourself tree and lawn care. Let’s face it the job isn’t that difficult if you have the right equipment and the right training. Granted some folks have rather large properties with extensive landscapes. These types of properties probably aren’t the DIY kinda guys/gals. No for us every day Joe, if we just took an hour and focused on our lawn care we would save a ton of money and have a green full lawn the neighbors envy J

There are some tricks or rather processes a professional lawn care company knows which make yards look fantastic! Don’t get me wrong they are professionals and typically care for the work they do. However, it’s not rocket science, it’s just a matter of knowing how to do it, when to do it and with what equipment.

Don’t worry you won’t own a truck and trailer full of tools after deciding to take on your lawn care. Rather a few good multi-purpose essentials, a good pair of gloves and the knowledge to complete the job.

Through a series of posts, we will cover the seasonal aspects what you should do for proper lawn care to ensure a healthy lawn year-round. As well as your shrubs and trees and how to keep them looking their best. A number of following posts will cover individual aspects for general tasks such as mowing your lawn or trimming your shrubs and trees, promoting an overall healthy landscape.

We look forward to checking in with you again shortly with our Fall Yard Care Guide.